Henry De Tamble Quotes

“This is why I love to be drawn by Clare: when she looks at me with that kind of attention, I feel that I am everything to her.”

“Whatever happens we both know that I live to be at least forty-three. So don’t worry about it.”

“That’s what I love you for: your inability to perceive my hideous flaws.”

“Do you love her?”
“Very much” I’m astonished to see that tears are streaming across her face
“It’s just that I thought maybe you were married to me.”

“It’s beautiful.” Clare nods, satisfied, for a moment, that her mother really did love her.”

“Sometimes I would give anything to open up Henry’s brain and look at his memory like a movie. I remember when I first learned to use a computer; I wanted to push my hands though the screen and get the real thing in there, whatever it was. I like to do things directly, touch the textures, see the colors. ”

“I keep myself busy. Time goes faster that way.”

“It’s funny how memory erodes. If all I had to work from where my childhood memories, my knowledge of my mother would be faded and soft, with a few sharp moments standing out.”

“But then I feel guilty for wanting to avoid the sadness; dead people need us to remember them, even if it eats us, even if all we can do is say I’m sorry until it is as meaningless as air.”

“You made it impossible for me to find you in the present; you said it would just happen when it was supposed to happen.”

“I stare at Clare, standing before me, and I am sorry to be here, sorry to ruin her Christmas. “I’m sorry, Clare. I didn’t mean to put all this sadness on you. I just find Christmas… difficult.”